Touchpads are commonly found in laptop computers and other electronic devices. When included as part of a laptop computer, the touchpad is typically used as a pointing device in place of, or in combination with, a mouse. A typical touchpad includes a detection surface and an input detection device. The input detection device detects contact on the detection surface. With some conventional touchpads, the input detection device is able to perform such detection with respect to single contacts performed using a single finger (or object, such as a stylus), or with respect to multiple simultaneous contacts performed using two or more fingers or objects.
A conventional touchpad allows for only limited control of the laptop or other type of electronic device with which it associated. For example, zoom-in and zoom-out control is not supported with conventional touchpads. Moreover, a conventional touchpad must include buttons to allow for full functionality, and this combined use of the touchpad and buttons is challenging for many users, particularly in view of the fact that two hands must be used and the commonly close proximity between the touchpad and the buttons.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the disclosure presented herein has been made.